Method and apparatus for applying fabric finishes to garments

ABSTRACT

A METHOD OF APPLYING FABRIC FINISH TO FABRICATED ARTICLES SUCH AS GARMENTS IS DISCLOSED IN WHICH THE ARTICLE IS TREATED WITH A CHEMICAL BY BEING PLACED WITHIN A CLOSED LIQUID IMPREVIOUS BAG CONTAINING A POROUS MATERIAL TO WHICH THE CHEMICAL HAS BEEN APPLIED, EITHER DIRECTLY IN THE CASE OF LIQUID CHEMICALS, OR TOGETHER WITH A SUITABLE LIQUID CARRIER IN THE PRESENCE OF WHICH THE CHEMICAL WILL BE TRANSFERRED TO THE ARTICLE WHEN IT IS PLACED ADJACENT TO THE POROUS MATERIAL IN THE CLOSED BAG. STEPS ARE DISCLOSED BY WHICH A PERMANENT PRESS FINISH MAY BE APPLIED TO GARMENTS USING THE ABOVE DESCRIBED METHOD. A GARMENT TREATING BAG IS ALSO DISCLOSED HAVING A LINING OF POROUS MATERIAL WHICH MAY BE SATURATED WITH LIQUID CHEMICALS FOR TREATING FABRIC GARMENTS IN THE PRACTICE OF THE METHOD OF THIS INVENTION.

Feb. '2',- 1971 METHCID AND APPARATUS FOR APPLYING FABRIC FINISHES TOGARMENTS INVENTORS Lillian L. Knight Julie A. Laphum BY Q 4 6 A TORNEYFiled June 30, 1969 WITNESS= United States Patent 3,559,317 METHOD ANDAPPARATUS FOR APPLYING FABRIC FINISHES T0 GARMENTS Lillian L. Knight,Morris Plains, and Julie A. Lapharn,

Denville, N.J., assignors to The Singer Company, New

York, N .Y., a corporation of New Jersey Filed June 30, 1969, Ser. No.837,486 Int. Cl. D06f 67/04 US. Cl. 38-144 Claims ABSTRACT OF THEDISCLOSURE A method of applying fabric finish to fabricated articlessuch as garments is disclosed in which the article is treated with achemical by being placed within a closed liquid impervious bagcontaining a porous material to which the chemical has been applied,either directly in the case of liquid chemicals, or together with asuitable liquid carrier in the presence of which the chemical will betransferred to the article when it is placed adjacent to the porousmaterial in the closed bag. Steps are disclosed by which a permanentpress finish may be applied to garments using the above describedmethod. A garment treating bag is also disclosed having a lining ofporous material which may be saturated with liquid chemicals fortreating fabric garments in the practice of the method of thisinvention.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the invention This inventionrelates to the art of applying to a fabric finish such as a dye, a wateror stain repellent, a flame retardant, or a permanent press treatment.More particularly, this invention relates to a method and to equipmentuseful in practicing a method of treating assembled garments withchemicals such as permanent press chemicals.

Description of the prior art The modes of fabric treatment which areknown in the prior art are by and large those which are useful only in acommercial environment. It is known, for instance, to apply a chemicalfinish such as a permanent press treatment to fabric or to a completedgarment by immersing the fabric or completed garment in a chemical bath.Such a mode of treatment is wholly unsuitable for home use where thetraining, experience and skill of the user varies within wide limits andwhere the controls which can be instituted in a commercial environmentcannot be maitained.

When the permanent press chemicals have been applied to the fabrics andthe treated fabrics have been dried, then heating of the treated fabricsto a predetermined temperature as by ironing or by tumbling in a heateddryer will effect a cure of the chemicals, for all practical purposesirrevocably setting the creases or the absence of creases.

In a commercial environment the loss of all creases, folds and the likeby immersion of a garment in a liquid bath of chemicals may not be ofgreat detriment because an employee skilled at pressing that particulargarment will perform the ironing operation which will initiate the cureof the permanent press chemicals, and the amount of spoilage because ofmistakes in ironing can easily be minimized.

In home use, however, the very prospect that a garment might be spoiledby an improperly placed crease or an inadvertently ironed flat sectioncan cause dissatisfaction and reluctance on the part of many persons touse known methods of applying permanent press finishes.

Patented Feb. 2, 1971 "ice It is an object of this invention to providea novel method of applying a fabric finish to a completed garment whichmethod is ideally suited to performance in the home by persons unskilledin the art of fabric finishing or ironing. In the novel method of thisinvention, a garment is first pressed in the absence of any applicationof chemical to the fabric so that misalignment of creases, tucks, pleatsand the like may be corrected as many times as is necessary for the userto become completely satisfied with the total garment shape.

The chemicals are then applied to the garment in such a way that thedesired creases, tucks, pleats, etc. are not removed and folds orcreases are not added to those areas which are intended should remainflat. Such application of the chemicals is preferably accomplished bycarefully positioning the pressed garment in close proximity of achemical laden absorbent liner within a liquid proof container. Thechemical will be transferred to the fabrics of the garment evenly andwithout removing or adding to the previous placed creases. Thereafter,when the chemical has dried on the garment, the user need only reironthe garment and tumble the garment in a heated dryer during reironingusing the previously placed creases as a guide so that the permanentpress chemicals can be cured or set in the garment with practically norisk of spoilage because of inadvertent error in ironing.

In the accompanying drawing:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a container for treating garments inaccordance with this invention showing the container being opened.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged cross sectional view of an unopened portion of thecontainer of FIG. 1 taken along line 22 of FIG. 1 and illustrating oneform of construction for opening and rescaling the container.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the container completely opened andshowing a garment positioned therein for treatment,

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the container closed and sealed with agarment therein undergoing treatment,

FIG. 5 is an enlarged cross sectional view similar to that of FIG. 2 butillustrating the container after being opened and then rescaled, and

FIG. 6 is an enlarged cross sectional view similar to that of FIG. 5 butillustrating a modified arrangement for resealing the container duringtreatment of the garment.

In the accompany drawings a container is illustrated in which a fabricarticle may be treated with a liquid chemical in accordance with thisinvention. The container preferably comprises a bag indicated generallyat 11 and including a top ply 12 and a bottom ply 13 of material such assynthetic plastic material which is chosen so as to be impervious to theliquid chemical with which the fabric article is to be treated.Preferably the edges of the bag 11 are sealed all around so that the topand bottom plies 12 and 13 provide a completely closed liquid tightcontainer. Arranged inside the bag and preferably secured interiorlythereof, as by any suitable adhesive, is a liner 14 of liquid absorbentmaterial such as felt, paper, or high nap fabric such as flannel. Asshown in FIGS. 2 and 5 the liner 14 may take the form of separate plies,one ply 14 being applied to the bottom ply .13 of the bag and anotherply 14 being adhered to the top ply 12 of the bag with the liner plies14 and 14' terminating slightly inwardly of the periphery of the bag 11.

Although the liquid absorbent material is illustrated as comprising oneor more plies 14, 14' secured to the bag plies 12 and 13 in thepreferred embodiment of the drawings, it will be understood,particularly after reading the complete disclosure of applicants novelmethod and apparatus, that the liquid absorbent material may assumeotherforms such as loose absorbent material within the bag, or sheets ofabsorbent material which are not secured-precisely as illustrated.

The liquid absorbent material of the liner plies 14 and 14' is saturatedwith the liquid chemical to be applied to the fabric article or it maybe saturated with a chemical which is dissolved in a suitable liquidcarrier. Since the material from which the bag 11 is fabricated ischosen so as to beinert to the particular chemical with which the linerplies 14, 14' are saturated, the resulting sealed bag within which thechemically saturated liner plies are disposed provides for a conveientlyhandled product which moreover can be stored for a considerably lengthof time without dissipation of the chemicals which are involved. Thechemicals with which the liner plies are impregnated may be fabric dyes,water or stain repelling agents, flame retardants, or chemicalsproviding a permanent press finish for the fabric article. For providinga permanent press characteristic to fabric articles the chemicals whichhave been successfully employed utilizing the container described aboveare: a methylol derivative of cyclic urea, in particular dimethylolethyleneurea, together with a catalyst such as amine hydrochloride.

Inside one of the plies, 12, .13 of the bag 11, a separating filament 15is secured along a line indicated at 16 in FIG. 1 along which it isdesired to sever the bag ply to provide an access opening 17 forinsertion of a fabric article. Preferably, the filament 15 is chosen soas to be stronger than the area of the bag ply 12 or to which it isadhered and at the extremity such as at 18 in FIG. 1, the filamentproject through the bag ply to the exterior thereof for access by theuser. The container 11 is opened by the user simply by pulling upwardlyupon the filament 15 after which the major portion of the ply 12 towhich the filament had been secured may be folded back as shown in FIG.3 exposing the liner 14 on the bottom ply and the liner 14' on the topply 12.

As shown in FIG. 2, a flap 20 which may be formed of material identicalto that of the top and bottom plies 12 and 13 may be secured as by asuitable adhesive to the interior surface of the ply v12 to which theseparating filament 15 has been secured. The flap 20 is provided with alayer of adhesive material 21 which may be protected by a cover strip 22of paper or plastic material so that the bag 11 may be closed andresealed after the fabric article is placed therein simply by pressingthe flap 20 against the exterior of the top ply 12 as shown in FIG. 5.

FIG. 6 illustrates a modified form of bag indicated at 31 having, as inthe previously described construction, a top ply 12 and a bottom ply 13of material impervious to the liquid chemical and a liner 14 ofabsorbent material applied interiorly of the bottom ply 13 and a liner14' of absorbent material adhered interiorly of the top ply but withouta flap 20 for resealing the bag. In FIG. 6, 32 illustrates the line ofseverance of the top ply 12 to provide for an access opening and aresealing strip 33 of adhesively coated tape which may be prepackagedwith or included within the sealed bag 31, is shown applied to resealthe severed line 32.

In FIGS. 3 and 4 is illustrated a fabric article 40 which, for instance,may comprise an article of wearing apparel such as a dress or the likeformed with portions 41 which are intended to remain Hat and to bewithout creases, and also formed with portions such as the pleats 42which are intended to have sharp creases.

The steps will now be described whereby a fabric article such as thedress 40 may be treated using the apparatus above described for thepurpose of applying permanent press characteristics to the garment.

' It is recommended that the fabric article when it is acquired or whenfabrication has been completed should be laundered in a conventionalfashion so as to remove sizing, surface finishing chemicals, and thelike which it may contain. During such initial laundering, softening andwetting agents may be applied to the fabric to enhance receptivity tothe permanent press chemicals. The garment is then pressed into shapeusing conventional techniques and iron temperatures commensurate withthe particular fabric involved so as to provide well-set creases wheredesired in the garment such as at the pleats 42, and so as to providefiat wrinkle-free surfaces such as the surface 41 where they are desiredin the garment. Since no permanent press chemicals have been applied atthis stage, any errors in ironing may be corrected without any permanentindication of such errors remaining in the garment, and such correctionmay be made over and over again until the desired shape and condition ofthe garment is attained. A container 11 as described above includingliner plies 14 and 14 of absorbent material impregnated with thepermanent press chemicals such as described above is then opened bypulling upwardly on the separating filament 15 thereof and folding backthe major portion of the upper ply 12 as shown in FIG. 3. The ironedgarment is then placed carefully upon the bottom ply of impregnatedabsorbent material 14 within the bag 11. The garment is adjusted toinsure the integrity of the creases which have heretofore been ironedinto the garment and to eliminate wrinkles and folds in the flatcreaseless portions 41 of the garment. The top ply 12 of the bag 11 isreplaced over the garment, and the bag is resealed using either the flap20 or a strip of adhesive material 33.

Using cotton fabrics in the garment to be processed and the permanentpress chemicals described above, the garment should be permitted toremain in the bag for approximately four hours. The liquid chemical inthe absorbent material 14, 14' will in this period of time betransferred to the fabric in the bag. The effectiveness of the transferof chemicals to the fabric may be enhanced if the bag is turned overduring this period, and such effectiveness may also be enhanced if apressure is applied to force the bag against the article, as forinstance, by placing a weight or a heavy object on the resealed bag.

After the time has elapsed for transfer of the liquid chemical to thefabric article, the bag is again opened by removing the adhesive strip33 or by peeling back the flap 20 and turning back the top ply 12 to theposition shown in FIG. 3. The fabric article 40 is then carefullywithdrawn from the bag and allowed to dry in air preferably without anyunnecessary movement thereof, and without any appreciable deviation fromroom temperature. As a result, the chemical will be applied and will dryonto the fabric without materially destroying the creases and flatwrinkle-free portions which had previously been ironed into the garment.

Where a cotton fabric is used the garment is then reironed using an irontemperature of 375 F. to 400 R, which corresponds on most conventionalhousehold irons to a cotton steam setting, taking pains to allow theiron at least ten seconds contact at each point on the fabric article.The reironing step after the permanent press chemicals have air dried onthe fabric serves to initiate the cure of the permanent press chemicalsand therefore permanently establishes creases and the absence of creasesin the fabric. Thereafter, the garment is tumbled in a clothes dryer forone hour set at the maximum heat setting of approximately 225 P. whichcompletes the cure or cross linking of the permanent press chemicals.

This completes the permanent press treatment but it is recommended thatthe garment be laundered and drip dried prior to wearing to avoid anypossible irritation to the wearer because of possible residue of thepermanent press chemicals thereon.

Having thus set forth the nature of this invention, what is claimedherein is:

1. A container for treating a fabric garment with a liquid chemical forimparting permanent press characteristics to said garment comprising anouter sheath formed entirely of material impervious to said liquidchemical,

closure means at least as impervious to said liquid chemical as saidouter sheath material completely closing said outer sheath, a liquidabsorbent material disposed within said sheath and saturated with saidliquid chemical, a filament of higher strength than said sheath materialadhesively secured interiorly of said sheath along the margin of adesired access opening in said sheath, for insertion into close contactwith said liquid absorbent material is said sheath of a fabric garmentto be treated, and means stored within said completely closed sheath andarranged adjacent to said margin of the desired access opening foradhesively securing said access opening closed.

2. The method of applying a permanent press finish to a fabric articlecomprising:

(a) providing a container impervious to a liquid chemical for impartingpermanent press characteristics to said fabric article,

(b) placing in said container a liquid absorbent material impregnatedwith said liquid chemicals for imparting permanent press characteristicsto said fabric 1 article,

(c) placing said fabric article in said container closely adjacent tosaid absorbent material,

(d) maintaining said fabric article in said 'close physical relationshipwith said liquid absorbent material until at least some of saidpermanent press chemicals will transfer to said fabric article, and

(e) curing said permanent press chemicals which have been transferred tosaid fabric article.

3. The method of applying a permanent press finish to a fabric articleas set forth in claim 2 including the steps of:

(a) pressing the untreated fabric article to establish the flat surfacesand creased surfaces that are desired therein,

(b) maintaining the integrity of said fiat and said creased surfaceswhile placing said fabric article in said container closely adjacent tosaid absorbent material, and

(c) curing said permanent press chemicals which have been transferred tosaid fabric article by applying heat and pressure to said fabric articleusing the previously established creased and flat surfaces thereof as aguide.

4. The method of applying a permanent press finish to a fabricarticle'as set forth in claim 2 in which the permanent press chemicalswhich are impregnated in said liquid absorbent material comprise amixture of dimethylol ethyleneurea and amine hydrochloride.

5. The method of applying a permanent press finish as set forth in claim2 which includes the steps of providing a plastic bag and placingtherein a liquid absorbent material in the form of at least one ply ofmaterial impregnated with liquid chemicals and secured as a lininginside of said plastic bag.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,952,382 3/ 1934 MacGregor 229-51S 1,954,577 4/ 19,34 Rcddin.

2,707,352 5/ 1955 Fischer 20610X 2,247,346 7/ 1941 Blair 68200 2,987,9066/ 196 1 Bourland 68213 3,453,757 7/1969 DeLoach 38-141 PATRICK D.LAWSON, Primary Examiner G. V. LARKIN, Assistant Examiner US. Cl. X.R.150; 68200, 213; 20646, 117-1395,

